The Kiss

The following is a poem I wrote when I was in college at the tender age of 19. I have recently revised it as the romantic in me felt like giving it a refresher.

It was written to be read out loud

The Kiss

It stays with me,

the night we escaped
crowds and noise
that wouldn't leave

us

finally alone after
years of glances,

you felt it too
a perceptive yen

we

pretended we didn't
and knowing we shouldn't
you said you dreamt it

on a night like this

me

riding in your car,

you smiled without
meeting my eyes,
deeply aware of

me with you,

stealing away

high above the city

to a hidden place

a dream catcher find

us

in rooftop tryst

the night’s embrace

like a quiet blanket

only the foghorn knew

our presence

for only this occasion,

one pivotal point
a chance to be
and so you kissed

me

decades beyond it

fateful and true

the foghorn reminds

of rooftops and

you

 

Mourning, thoughts, and prayers

No words can describe the gravity of my emotions in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary school tragedy.

Once upon a time, revisited

Once upon a time

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they're blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we're going
No care in the world
Maybe I'm learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing

Roxy Music circa 1982

Bavarian Fruit Bread - Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

Some days are better than others.
Some days I wonder why I even arose
It's a misty morning, and I am without compass or trustworthy friend.

But at the end of the day
I find my way home
And you wrap your love around me 

I am in your circle of light
And all that matters is you.
A bad day is forgotten.



Besos,

my Little Lovely Girl

Pema Chödrön, my new spiritual teacher

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.” ― Pema Chödrön

The connection is real with someone new

This wild rose blooms elsewhere

Some things don't change even when you wish real hard. 

The forsaken

I think of you when I hear this in my car, you who is so far away. And so this is to you.

Something I saw today that was kinda cool... When you replace "i" with "we", then illness becomes wellness.

Images come back flashing like a broken light

And everything has gotten a little blurred

Grateful

Every now and then, I write a gratitude list. It reminds me of what is important to me in my life. I don't know that they are in any specific order, just written as the ideas come to me.

I'm grateful for my:

• Children, who provide unconditional love, joy, laughter, truth, humor, pride and a reason for me to work at being my best self
• Good health
• Children's good health
• Extended family who taught me values, to be generous and kind
• Friends who provide a sense of community that says I'm not completely alone in this single life
• Sweet kitty who is very loving, a great cuddle partner and sometimes needy
• Bright spirit of air and light, a realist who is ALSO optimistic who loves large and feels deeply 
• Job, providing the sustenance I need to live a comfortable life and giving me opportunity to grow and learn
• Creative spirit, the never ending sense of, and urge to, share something beautiful or compelling that can help shape or change the world, if even ever so slightly
• Home. It meets my needs, is safe and cozy and comfortable
• Car, comfortable and safe, letting me travel and enjoy the scenery
• Love of music and film
• Foodie self, with a deep love of culinary delights and the many flavors this world provides 
• Sense of humor
• Love of words
• Hunger for fairness and truth
• Ability to know when I am being wronged but still taking the high road to be kind, understanding and forgiving

That's all I got for now

Namaste

I love to do my yoga to this music -- so peaceful and contemplative

wishing for you, all the lights to change from red to green






Climbing on the stair
I turn around to see you smiling there
In front of me

She's imagination through the light projected

Finding a piece of Paris

in this life that we live, we only make do

On this Halloween Night

 Sabbath seemed fitting and great blues riff in this one




P.s. If it's true that the band recorded this album in just 2 days, well that's utterly astounding.

Stood upon the roof top on a night so clear

Wish I could have seen their show in Milwaukee last week

Sun and frozen lake

Honey and the Moon

Dedicated to a friend

Greenfield Park

Taking the camera on a date

Milwaukee Lagoon

A rainy Saturday afternoon

Southshore Park

Better call on the fire brigade

And I will never grow so old again

someone sent this video to me once a long time ago


And we will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain
Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing
And I shall drive my chariot
Down your streets and cry
Hey, it's me, Im dynamite
And I don't know why
And you shall take me strongly
In your arms again
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again.

Loneliness is a crowded room

Like a hurricane caught inside you

Take a little walk

So take it as a song or a lesson to learn
And sometime soon be better than you were
If you say you're gonna go, then be careful
And watch how you treat every living soul

A trip to Laredo

Life like a movie

It stops your heart and holds you near

...And they shimmer
On the ends of my memories
I could feel your ghost
In the breeze

Rivers that rush in

Airplanes take you away again
Are you flying above where we live?
Then I look up, a glare in my eyes
Are you having regrets about last night?

I'm not, but I like rivers that rush in,
so then I dove in
Is there trouble ahead for you?
the acrobat
I won't push you unless you have a net
You say the word, you know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I don't hold onto the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night,
this girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies So go on and fly then, boy

The wind in my hair

Tonight was a gem...I got to ride on a Harley with a friend

only when they see your innate value do they reserve a spot in the heart

A new writing project is brewing and it's going to be...spot on.

School of Seven Bells

Mind excerpt

From the archives:

In the humid salt wind, with the roof off, a boy and girl raced along the coast. The blackened palm trees swept across the orchid sky and “hush” played on the radio. His hair was soft and brown. He had eyes that drank up spiced cocoa. Her lips, the colour of crushed raspberries, wrapped around his finger. No one could stop the wheels in motion or the energy that brought them together - serendipity. They were the only souls on the beach at dawn. Crimson and clover, over and over

The silence surrounds you

The spaces in between, two minds and all the places they have been.

A better side of you to admire

Milwaukee's River Walk

Riverwalk
Trudging crumbling sidewalk, lower eastside

traveled excessively, alone with river

as elderly man passes and holds wife’s hand

a thought to ask, “how did they manage?”

their mysterious success eludes  

while a cold sun swims away for the afternoon

heading for the unknown.

A heart with a language of its own

foreign to all who try

countless life blessings but

a thought to ask, “is this my calling?”

again, that mysterious sensation eludes

with just inches of time in walking shoes

and no particular place to go.

To amble along water and wonder  

if you’re too old to wonder

a thought to ask, “is this all?”

while mysterious hours

rush downstream like river timber

you can still toss pebbles in

and carve out a piece of the world.

You passed by this island

Constellations

I feel like dancing

I adore this song....prefer the longer version though

Throwing my arms around Paris

I am going to start the process again of learning French.

High art

I've heard of art mimicking real life but it seems lately, for me, life is finding high art moments.

Shivers

To quote another, "my ears are having sex right now" 

Flattery

Today, someone said I had je ne sais quoi

All I can say is, merci beaucoup!

Train of Thoughts

The train I tried to disembark then,

It takes me now to places of Zen

A broken window longs for its sound

The memory’s lost cause now is found

My mind races ironclad tracks

Dancing a line of fantasy, fact

On edge of reason and rainy rushes

Our mystical year fell on beauty touches

We gently welcomed golden-rose daybreak

Deeply absorbing every electric mistake

Incessant chatter to morning birds sing

Oh but the light saw your ring

Even in the dawn’s metallic blue

ties could never lead me to you

parting journey somewhere unknown

My mind recalls your voice by phone

And as my train now turns to sleep

I see you gave me nothing to keep

Brilliant

...because he has the clever mastership, the artistry of conveying isolation, to the nth degree 

Saw your face when I heard this

Music inspired photos

This video has some of my photos taken near various bodies of water, set to a nostalgic song I love

(For full screen, click on the full screen icon on at bottom right corner of the player)